Interview with Tommy Tallarico

[fernsho]

GamerGod (http://www.gamergod.com/) interviews legendary video game composer Tommy Tallarico. (http://www.gamergod.com/article.php?article_id=3939) He talks a bit about his past, present, and hopeful future experiences helping to define the game industry.

From the interview...

The industry has come so far in such a short period of time in regards to game audio and music. I mean, think about it, when I first got into the industry fifteen years ago, it was a bunch of bleeps and bloops. If you look back at the last fifteen years and the amazing scores being created, they are on par with, if not better than, most movie scores these days.

[bapenguin]

This is that douche bag on that G4 review show right? I never knew he did music...I think he should stick with that.

[dark_inchworm]

He does really awesome music.

He does really terrible reviews and show hosting duties.

My two cents.

[Tricky Thumb]

Yeah, he's as legendary as my left testicle is invulnerable.

[Serapth]

Gotta say, I only clicked into this message to find out who the fuck Tommy Tallarico was. Now that I know the truth, im greatly disappointed and want my 6 seconds of life back!

[n3rdXcore]

I think he does a pretty good job with his music stuff, but man oh man is he a tool. Watching him on TV makes me want to throw up, and watching his little comedic bit at GDC last year was just painful.

[VoodooKarma]

This is that douche bag on that G4 review show right? I never knew he did music...I think he should stick with that.

I was thinking the exact same thing. For a guy who works in the industry, he is totally clueless about games. And how legendary is he really? His big claim to fame is the Earthworm Jim soundtrack if I am not mistaken...big deal. Every time I see this tool on TV I want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon.

[KRS]

"Tool" is too much of a compliment. I think the correct terminology is "no talent assclown."

[CapnBob]

Legendary in the sense of that one time in college that your roommate had this giant egg and onion burrito which caused him to release a fart of such magnitude and potency that it forced the evacuation of the entire dorm.

[Royal Fool]

Well, to be fair, he does have a lot of titles to his name.

I think he's always been bitter towards Nintendo because of the Metroid Prime thing...

[crashedout]

How about when they reviewed Advent rising? he did the sound and kept talking about the foot-steps...who the heck cares, the game was bad.

[fitbabits]

But I almost like TT!

[Worldcrafter]

Tommy Tallarico is really annoying when you can hear him talk, but the reason I know of his was because his studio did the sound/music for the PS game Wild 9 (Back when Shiny did fun interesting games). The music for the game was on seperate tracks on the CD that you could listen to in a CD player. I used to listen to the Wild 9 soundtrack all the time. I still love that stuff.

To bad I found out later when watching G4 that Tommy Tallarico is a prick.

[Skizott]

If he would have stayed off t.v, he would've been remembered as a guy who was good at music.

Instead of a jackass that was on G4.

[gzsfrk]

Tallarico is representative of everything I hate about G4. While the network airs some stuff I like (Cinematech and the occasional non-worthless episode of X-play), both G4 and Tallarico are immature, sophomoric, shallow, and exactly the OPPOSITE of what I want the world to think of when they consider gamers and the gaming sector in general. Plus, I find his fixation on shooting/kicking/abusing crotches simultaneously irritating and disturbing. It's like hearing a 7 year old's words come from a grown man's mouth.

Plus, his reviews are complete garbage. Any game he trashes for being "too complicated" or "not easy enough to pick up and just play" generally equates to a solid recommendation for me. It seems as though anything deeper than Burnout 3 taxes his light mental capacity.

(E.g. During the Forza review, he kept complaining that he "couldn't steer!", and how Forza was inferior to Burnout 3 because you can't take a 60 degree turn at 180mph in Forza like you could in B3. Moron...)

[Hizawky]

His music is amazing. That is all that matters.

[Mozgus]

I'm glad everyone else hates him. I always wondered if I was the only one, but I never bothered asking around.

[bapenguin]

Legendary in the sense of that one time in college that your roommate had this giant egg and onion burrito which caused him to release a fart of such magnitude and potency that it forced the evacuation of the entire dorm.

Oh man...I just burst out laughing on that one.

[vallor]

I don't know about TV or any of that stuff, but I had the chance hear him conduct during the Seattle stop of Video Games Live. I love music and games. Unfortunately there is some real talent today writing the score for video games that will never be recognized just because the medium they write for.

Anyone that helps drive recognition to these folks is OK in my book.

I admit I was much more impressed with the MGSolid score than Tommy's Advent Rising score.

[Sensei-X]

Some of his music is okay, most of it is crap and even the stuff that's "good" sounds like it was put together using "DJ Tiesto's Sampling for Beginners Big Box'o Pre-made Samples". I really don't like the guy, met him in person a couple of times, and even though he's an okay person he has lousy taste in games and even less talent. But what can I say, last time I met him he was wearing a gold colored jacket, I can't take anyone in gold clothing seriously.

[Spigot]

Tallarico is representative of everything I hate about G4. While the network airs some stuff I like (Cinematech and the occasional non-worthless episode of X-play), both G4 and Tallarico are immature, sophomoric, shallow, and exactly the OPPOSITE of what I want the world to think of when they consider gamers and the gaming sector in general. Plus, I find his fixation on shooting/kicking/abusing crotches simultaneously irritating and disturbing. It's like hearing a 7 year old's words come from a grown man's mouth.

Tommy should go back to doing whatever techno-style game music and vanity project he can think of and leave the reviews to Victor and Victor alone.

I've been watching Tommy & Vic for far too long on Electric Playground back before they had a digital channel somewhat devoted to games. Tommy has been annoying for long before G4 showed up to showcase his 'talents'.

About the only reason I can see him doing reviews on ElecPlay and Reviews On The Run is that he gives the opinion of your average Madden-loving, text-is-boring gamer as opposed the much more intelligent and mature opinions that Victor has.

I agree with gzsfrk though. Rather than going with the tone of Victor Lucas and his ilk (the Call For Help crew, Screensavers, etc.) and having decent reviews and shows, G4/Tech TV has set its sights squarely on the lowest common denominator. I only watch G4 when I am at my in-laws and even then 9/10 shows are so immature I tend to just turn the TV off and go online.

X-Play actually has pretty good reviews. It's the fluff filler crap and stilted dialogue between the hosts that they insist on filling 50% of the show with that sucks. Same with ElecPlay and RotR. Both have pretty good preview/reviews...

It's when they decide that what is missing are skits that would make a high school drama team cringe in their sheer awfulness that you wonder if the powers that be behind the scenes on the network are aware that a large portion of their audience is in their mid to late 20's or early 30's, not 14 years old (though I wouldn't be surprised if that's all that is left now that they've done away with almost every shred of intelligence on the network... I mean, I'm a pretty geeky guy, but even *I* know that nobody wants to watch a show about LAN deathmatches...)

Sigh.

[TrackZero]

He does really awesome music.

He does really terrible reviews and show hosting duties.

My two cents.

He also gets involved with projects that reach too far and fall on their face. i.e. Video Games Live! and Advent Rising. Go Tommy!

[TrackZero]

But I almost like TT!

Tommy is the Todd McFarlane of video game music, I enjoy seeing him on EP/RotR. I don't always agree with his reviews, but I enjoy hearing an opinion from a different perspective.

[Spigot]

Tommy is the Todd McFarlane of video game music, I enjoy seeing him on EP/RotR. I don't always agree with his reviews, but I enjoy hearing an opinion from a different perspective.
The only problem is that in recent years he seems to have undergone a complete labotomy.

Tommy used to be a kind of 'beer & pretzels' review to Victor's 'port & caviar' review. His viewpoints were different and he was a little more jumpy and attention-seeking than Victor, but he did seem to have a bit of focus and would come at games as a gamer, albeit a very different one from the type I, or Victor, or most people on this site would identify with.

These days Tommy seems to be out there to do nothing more than act like an ass and give reviews that at least seem to be intentional in their efforts to make people want to go to the fora and start flame wars about him.

I just don't like seeing him on TV anymore. Maybe it's just me, but I've just grown very weary of his schtick. I can almost say the kind of reviews or complaints he'll give against a game before he says it, since he's very consistent. I just find his personality to be very annoying now where as before it was slightly funny.

Heck, maybe it's just due to scheduling or something, but the last few EP's I saw had him in maybe one on-site interview with someone and that was it. I still see him doing the RotR, but he seems to have been replaced on ElecPlay.

Man, I didn't think I'd end up feeling so angry when the words Tommy Tallarico showed up on my screen. I mean, compared to several of the hosts on other G4 shows, the guy is Sir Lawrence Olivier. That said, given the overall quality and maturity that two shows he tends to be on have, he really drags them down when they should be aiming higher.

If he could stop trying to be annoying, I could probably tolerate him again. I don't mind his general approach to the reviews as it does help separate the perspectives of a mainstream gamer from a hardcore one. I just don't think he should be such a dork while doing it.

*Spigot goes off to try to reduce his rage*